14* On the Comhfjllon of the Human Body^ 



whole bodies imbibe fpirituous liquors with more eafe, they 

 ought to experience more readily the impreflion of fire* 

 Hence that combuftion, the melancholy inftances of which 

 feem to be furniflied by women alone ; and it is owing 

 merely to the want of a certain concurrence of circumftances 

 and of phyfical caufes, that thefe events, though lefs rare than 

 is fuppofed, do not become more common. 



The fecond general obfervation lerves to explain the third j 

 I mean, that the combuliion took place only in women far 

 advanced in life. The Countcfs of Cefena was fixty-two 

 years of age ; Mary Clues, fifty-two ; Grace Pitt, fixty ; 

 Madame de Boifeon, eighty ; and Mademoifelle Thuars 

 more than fixty. Thefe examples prove that combuftion is 

 more frequent among old women. Young perfons, diftrafted 

 by other paffions, are not much addidcd to drinking; but 

 when love, departing along with youth, leaves a vacuum in 

 the mind, if its place be not fupplied by ambition or in- 

 tereft, a tafte for gaming, or religious fervor, it generally falls 

 a prey to intoxication. This paffion flill increafes as the 

 others diminifh, efpecially in women, who can indulge it 

 without reftraint. Wilmer, ttierefore, obferves, *' that the 

 propenfity of Mary Clues to this vice had always increafed 

 after the death of her huftjand, which happened about a 

 year before :" alnioft all the other women of whom I have 

 fpoken, being equally unconfined in regard to their adlions, 

 could gratify their attachment to fpirituous liquors without 

 oppofition. 



It may have been obferved that the obefity of women, as 

 they advance in life, renders them more fedentary ; and if, 

 as has been remarked byBaumes*, a fedentary life over- 

 charges the body with hydrogen, this effe<Sl muft be ftill 

 more fenfible among old women. Dancing and walking, 

 which form falutary recreation for young perfons, are at 

 a certain age interdifted as much by nature as by prejudice. 

 It needs therefore excite no aftonifhment that old women, 

 who are in general more corpulent and more addifted to 

 drinking, and who are often motionlefs like inanimate 



* Eflai du Syftcme Chemiijue d<-" la Science de i'Homme. 



mafles. 



